


Idiocy

by soopermouse



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Angst, Gen, M/M, PGP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2017-01-11
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:11:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9289748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soopermouse/pseuds/soopermouse





	

So here they were at Blake’s base, and things had gone wrong.  
Soolin had a problem with that. From where she looked, Blake was an idiot and Avon was also an idiot, but she did have a small soft spot for Avon who had at least managed to try and keep them all alive, and under the circumstances you couldn’t ask for more.  
Soolin had a big problem with the fact that Blake hadn’t spoken to anyone but Vila, and she didn’t trust Vila as far as she could throw him. Yes he was one of the original, but Vila was a burden at the best of times, and now obviously he’d gone and ratted out Avon at Blake, and now Avon was somewhere, and she and Dayna and Tarrant were prisoners and nobody had even asked their version of what happened.  
Soolin thought Blake was an idiot, his operation stupidly managed, and that everything was his fault. She was angry at Avon, but not as much. Blake had managed this badly. Blake had acted as if they were all supposed to take him on trust, as if he didn’t even owe an explanation to Avon. As if Avon was supposed to just truth him unconditionally.  
And Blake had screwed up. Blake had taken in a Federation agent and equipped her with a gun , and that said to her that Blake wasn’t remotely this great leader he thought he was.

And she knew Vila would’ve poisoned Blake’s mind against Avon because of what happened on Malodaar, and she hated the little rat. Soolin set her jaw and decided to check on Dayna and Tarrant, who weren’t quite the welcome guests Vila seemed to be either.  
Tarrant had been stunned, but seemed OK otherwise. He was only hurt a little, and in quiet whispers he agreed with Soolin. He didn’t like being treated like that, and he wanted to know where Avon was.  
Dayna pointed out that Avon had been fair to them and kept them alive including that rat Vila. That Avon had lost the Liberator trying to save Blake, and that it wasn’t Avon’s fault that Blake was an idiot.  
And so was Dayna. So from a few pieces hidden in her clothes and boots she managed to put together a couple of bombs and a weapon, and as it turned out Soolin still had her reserve gun in pieces in her boots because only an idiot would not have a reserve gun.  
The door was locked.   
They looked at each other and decided to wait and see whether or not someone would finally come and talk to them in the morning. Blasting through the door and stealing a ship was all fine and dandy, but they needed to find Avon and that required more time and more explosives than they had.

Dayna said bitterly  
“It’s not like Blake is dead or anything, he didn’t even get hurt. So instead of acting as if Avon just went out and betrayed him he should have at least spoken to us and Avon and not taken Vila’s word.”  
Soolin replied  
“Turns out Avon was right, Blake’s an idiot after all”  
Tarrant blasted “You know I thought he was this great guy and great leader who’d have at least taken everyone’s version before making a decision. But no, all he does is listen to Vila and he doesn’t even speak to Avon, just throws him in a cage. I’m disappointed”.  
Dayna countered  
“How do we even know he didn’t speak to Avon?”  
“Because if he did, all of this would be cleared up and Avon would have asked him to free us. “  
Soolin agreed “Avon wouldn’t have left us in here if he was free, and if Blake had spoken to him and listened he’d have freed him”  
Dayna asked “why are you so sure?”

Soolin replied bitterly  
“Because Avon thought so”

At the end they all decided to try to escape and save Avon, who didn’t deserve to die for Blake’s idiocy and Vila’s pettiness. But they needed to make sure what was going on first, so they waited.

To say Deva was uncomfortable would be underestimating how he felt. Deva was angry as hell at Blake, and at the whole situation.  
Mainly at Blake, because Blake had proven to be a different man than the man Deva thought him to be. Deva knew the whole bounty hunter routine was stupid. Arlen was proof of that.  
And Deva could even understand why Avon shot Blake, Blake had behaved stupidly- he didn’t even think that maybe he owed his old comrade an explanation. No, Blake knew everything better and decided to go all in and count on his charisma alone, and Deva was sure that if he’s been in Avon’s boots he’s have probably shot Blake too.

But what happened after that was worse. Blake had sent for that little rat Vila and listened to him, and nobody else. And that Vila sure seemed to have had a grudge with Avon, and Blake had put Avon in a rotten cell and wanted to have him executed. HE wouldn’t even send a doctor to look at Avon’s wound. Deva had argued loud and clear the night before that Avon should stand trial, and that everyone in his group should’ve been interrogated before any decision was made.

But Blake and that rat Vila were certain that Avon had come for the purpose of killing Blake and just because he didn’t manage to do it wasn’t a good enough reason to not punish him. Vila claimed Avon had come to shoot Blake and take over his rebellion and Blake believed him.  
Maybe Blake wasn’t the great leader Deva had thought him. Maybe Blake was just an idiot.  
In the end, Deva had managed to get Blake to stay the execution by pointing out that even the Federation would listen to all evidence before convicting someone, and Blake raged and banged at the table and then Deva added that Blake could be a murderer is he wanted to be but Deva would have no part of it.  
And as a parting gift, he added that considering how many times Blake had spoken about Avon saving his life and those of the whole crew on the Liberator, maybe Blake should do a tally of all his debts to Avon before he did anything stupid.  
So Blake shouted at him and Vila whispered something in his ear but Deva just didn’t care anymore. From the looks around the table, nobody agreed with Blake totally.  
Blake made good speeches but he also made mistakes and his mistakes got people killed. The 20 people they’d lost at the other base were a lot, and that was entirely Blake’s fault and he hadn’t even admitted it.  
This was the reason why Deva went and took the food to Avon’s crew that morning. Because He wanted their story and he didn’t believe Vila.   
So when he went in and put the food down he wasn’t entirely surprised when they pulled guns on him and took him prisoner. He was surprised when they didn’t shoot him.  
Nobody would come to see them anyway, so they had time. They were just in a cell in the second base where the whole operation was moved after the Federation attack. A dirty disgusting smelly cell, and Deva hated that they were put there. It seemed disrespectful.  
Deva thought that if he wanted to be in a group that treated people like that, he could’ve stayed in the Federation’s employ.  
Soolin tied him up, not painfully. Deva made a mental note of that.

The tall guy with the curly mop that was Blake’s last catch and the reason Avon’s crew came in to their old base neared to the chair Deva was tied to, and lowered himself to Deva’s face. He was so young, they were all so young… Deva hadn’t noticed that. Tarrant, he remembered. His name was Tarrant.  
Tarrant asked the red headed tech one question:  
“Where is Avon?”  
Deva felt a gun to the back of his head- probably the young black girl because she wasn’t in his view.  
“Avon’s in a cell next door to this. Blake wants to execute him”  
The three didn’t seem to act like Vila had said they would. Vila’d told Blake that the crew hated Avon and would be glad to be rid of him. But this wasn’t true was it? Surely if they hated Avon they wouldn’t care if he was to be executed.  
Deva suddenly realised that, if what Vila had said was true, he’d have asked Blake to free Scorpio’s crew. They were all good qualified fighters, and if, like Vila had said, they owed no loyalty to Avon, they could be used.  
Yet they had been left to rot in a cell for days.  
Something was fishy.  
Soolin came to him and shook him “How is Avon?”  
That. Deva suddenly realised what was going on  
“He’s been hurt and is in some sort of shock. I think some of the guards might have hurt him, before I realised. I had him moved to the cell next to yours, and I’m the only one who’s seen him”  
“Is he OK” asked Dayna  
Deva was ashamed to answer  
“I’m not sure. Blake refused to give him any medical assistance. I cleaned his wound the best I could, and bandaged him, but he’s not been eating much.”  
Soolin stepped back and looked at him coldly  
“And how do you feel about all this? Do you think Blake’s being fair?”  
Deva sighed and slumped in his ties  
“No. I don’t approve of this. I’d never even thought Blake could be cruel like this, but your friend Vila told him Avon came in to kill him, and Blake believed him”.  
Dayna came into his visual range  
“He didn’t even speak to Avon, did he?”  
Deva shook his head.  
“Not one word. He wouldn’t even send the doctor to make sure Avon wasn’t too badly hurt”.  
Deva slumped in his ties but continued:  
“I was wrong about Blake. He’s just as bad as the rest of them”  
And he was sad. He had believed Blake, and turns out Blake had deceived him and everyone else.  
Soolin kneeled next to him and told him  
“we need to get out of here. Where are your ships?”  
“There’s a hangar, outside, to the west”  
“How many guards?”  
“About 2 from here to outside, this is just a basement. There’s an exit at the end of the corridor, you don’t have to go through the main base. 3 people at the hangar. We lost 20 good people to that federation attack.”  
Tarrant started to untie him  
“Will you help us? “  
Deva considered his options for all of 10 seconds  
“I’m not a murderer and Blake isn’t worth dying for. Let’s go save your friend”  
Dayna laughed bitterly  
“Oh, Avon’s not our friend. More like an older stepbrother. He doesn’t like us, but he looked after us the best he could”  
The others nodded. Deva filed that up for future analysis.  
They just unlocked the door and got into the cold, damp corridor. They were underground. The next cell was Avon’s.  
Avon was very obviously unwell. He looked worse than when he’d given himself up for torture to catch Shrinker. At least back then the Federation had been kind enough to provide some medical assistance for his wounds. He was impossibly thin, his skin was burning up, but he was alive and conscious.  
When they stepped in the cell, his voice sounded almost happy  
“Nice to see you’ve decided to join the party”  
They all laughed because Avon who made bad jokes was the Avon they knew.  
“Can you walk?”  
Avon tried to stand up and managed to just do that. He was terrifyingly thin, but he was Avon, alright.  
HE looked at Deva with narrowed eyes. Deva decided he had to speak up. The others seemed to await Avon’s judgement  
“I… don’t want to be a murderer. Blake decided to execute you without a trial”  
Avon looked straight at him. Deva looked back and saw a man that really wasn’t what Vila said he was. Avon did look crazy, and tired and terrifyingly thin, but his crew trusted him and Deva had heard Blake talk about Avon before. The Avon who always saved his crew. The Avon who kept the Liberator in the breach against the aliens. The Avon who came in to save Tarrant.  
Between this man and Blake, who was willing to execute his old friend without even giving him a fair trial, Deva felt that he didn’t really had much of a choice.  
Avon said quietly “Thank you for the bandages, Deva”.  
And that was that. Deva wasn’t a leader, Deva had never been a leader. But he was a good follower, and Avon looked like a better leader than Blake. At least Avon tried to keep his people safe.

“there are 2 guards at the end of the corridor” he said. They’re armed, and they normally face the door. This is a basement and the corridor goes straight outside. The ships are to the west. There will be guards there too”. He smiled sadly. “we don’t have that many people left. We lost a lot to the Federation attack”

Avon shrugged as if he’d have expected that.

“Let me guess, dear old Vila told him that I came to kill him and steal his rebellion”. There wasn’t even one trace of bitterness in his voice.  
Dayna’s eyes doubled in size “You knew he’d do that?”  
Avon shrugged  
“Once a rat, always a rat, Dayna. People have this annoying habit where they never change”  
Deva got to see Avon take out one of the guards while Soolin shot the other. He couldn’t understand why Avon didn’t just shoot the other guard, but it seemed Avon was good at unarmed combat even now when he looked like a skeleton, so that worked out for them.  
Now they had a weapon each, including Deva’s. They headed towards the hangar.  
Deva was studying them all carefully.  
They followed Avon. This small, terrifyingly thin man who seemed to live on willpower alone, who was pretty badly hurt (he’d know, he changed the bandaged on that nasty wound in his side), who looked like a wraith.  
But the others followed him and he moved decisively towards the hangar, the others in tow.  
Deva thought bitterly that this was a bit too much excitement for a computer tech who just wanted to help make the world better, when he realised that Avon had been a computer tech as well , once.  
“Maybe there’s more to us than meets the eye” he thought bitterly.  
Soolin and Dayna took the hangar guards out from a safe distance. The ship they chose was a Wanderer class, not much but someone had made her ready to go. There were only three ships to choose from anyway.  
And they were in. Deva expected them to just go before anyone realised, but seems Avon had other plans. 

He turned to Deva and asked him coldly  
“How far is your old base from here?”  
Deva couldn’t believe it. “are you serious? We need to get off GP before Blake realizes and comes after us”  
Avon smiled, a thin terrifying smile “ well now, I may get a chance to shoot him properly this time”.  
They flew up carefully, not high enough to get caught by the radars. Deva explained there hadn’t been enough time to set up proper surveillance at the new base. Avon shrugged as if he’d have expected it.  
“Where are we going anyway?”  
Soolin explained “Avon wants to check out old ship. It has one of the best drives there are in it, and there’s a good chance Blake wouldn’t have thought to scavenge it yet.”  
Deva suddenly understood  
“how good of a drive?”  
Avon responded without even turning “standard by 15 in real time. If we get it we’ll be able to get out of the blockade above the planet. Otherwise, we’re dead meat”.  
Tarrant’s voice came in  
“But they got us last time, didn’t they? How do you plan to go past them now?”  
Avon laughed  
“They won’t expect anyone to come from the planet surface at that speed, and I suspect they’ll be too busy trying to shoot down anyone that approaches the planet”.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This was going to be a bad day, thought Blake when he woke up.  
He was grateful for the sleeping pills, sleep was important and he knew he wasn’t very good without it. The pills managed to get him some rest, and he needed it.  
But the moment he was awake, the bad news started pouring in.  
Avon and his crew had escaped. They had managed to kill the guards, steal the Wanderer and apparently had taken Deva with them.  
Blake knew they couldn’t afford the loss of more people. He also knew he couldn’t catch them.  
But Vila was at his side once again with a knowing “I told you so”, and Blake agreed that this’d proven without any shadow of a doubt that he’d been right to want to execute Avon. Avon was dangerous, Avon was a traitor, and Avon had ruined everything.  
But he still had his old friend Vila with him, and Vila was on his side.  
Blake decided to see what the others leaders thought. He didn’t entirely care, but he wanted to look like he respected their opinions, as if the rebellion wasn’t his, as if he didn’t make the greatest sacrifices, as if any of the people followed those rats and not him. What a travesty.  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
Turns out they weren’t happy. Turns out they thought this was all Blake’s fault, including the Federation attack on the first base. They shouted and screamed and acted as if they got a say in the running of Blake’s rebellion.  
So Blake shouted at them, and shouted some more until he managed to get them all under some form of control.  
They complained about the deaths of 25 people. They complained about losing the old base. They complained about Blake’s leadership, and about Blake’s mistakes.  
How dare they?  
So unfortunately Blake had to shoot that annoying Darlo who thought he had the right to question his decisions and then everybody went quiet and Blake left the room.  
In his room, Vila told him he was right, and that these fools just had no right to question Blake, who had started the rebellion.  
They had work to do.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  
Well, turns out Avon was right. They had managed to find their old broken ship, and after a few hours or work Avon and Deva managed to get out the thing Avon called Stardrive. 

Deva was starting to get what the others saw in Avon. Avon had a good mind, and he tended to be right. He also didn’t spare himself, but everything he did was calculated, and while he didn’t tell anyone what his calculations were, they tended to work out.  
So now they had the drive and Avon was heading towards their old base. Deva didn’t understand why, there was nothing there, but Avon seemed to want something so Deva and the others followed.  
Dayna, who seemed the more talkative one, explained that Avon was looking for Orac.  
Deva understood.  
Once again, it seemed like Avon did calculate all his moves.  
The old base was stinking with the remains of dead rebels and dead federation soldiers. They had left in a hurry, but Deva was surprised to realize that maybe someone in these past days should’ve gone back to try to recover at least some of the equipment.  
Why didn’t any of them think about it? Why didn’t Blake?

 

Somewhere above Gauda Prime, a blonde mercenary in a fast ship was frowning at his comm screen.   
That WAS Blake. He remembered seeing him on Albian, and he had come to Gauda prime to look for him.   
It had been a long while, but Del Grant knew when things weren’t right, and this definitely didn’t smell right.  
Ok so he hadn’t seen Blake in 3 years, but the Blake he had met on Albion was definitely not this guy. That Blake was a good guy, maybe a bit hotheaded but his heart was in the right place. That Blake had told him that if he hurt Avon he’d hunt him down, and Del understood that.  
This Blake looked like a bounty hunter. This Blake told him that Avon had tried to kill him and that Blake wanted to have him executed for treason, and that Avon had somehow managed to get out of his cell, kill Blake’s guards and steal a ship.  
Blake wanted Del to blow Avon’s ship out without any questions, and he even offered him a fee for it.  
Del Grant thought about it and decided he didn’t like it.  
Because it was Avon. Because Avon was ready to die with him and the rest of Albian just to try and defuse the solium bomb.  
Del Grant had to choose whether to believe this Blake who was willing to pay him to kill the man who had been his closest friend, or the image of Avon who had thrown his teleport bracelet off to make sure he wouldn’t be pulled out before he finished his job.  
Del Grant was not a stupid man.  
But he knew that he wasn’t going to just blow up Avon.  
Yes there was that thing about his sister, but Del had memory problems and he vaguely remembered having been captured by the federation before the whole thing with Avon and his sister happened, and he never quite understood how they let him go.  
He also never quite understood how come there was not one picture of his sister amongst the few childhood pics he still had with him. He had tried to think about his, their childhood, but things didn’t come back very well and he suspected he might have been mindwiped.  
Del Grant owed Avon his life, and he owed Blake nothing.

 

They had the star drive and they had Orac. Avon looked slightly better than the rotting corpses in the old base, but not by much. The others weren’t quite aware how badly Avon was wounded, but Deva knew, so he’d forced him to stand still while he checked his wound.  
It was mending. The stitched held, but Avon should’ve been in a bed resting not stealing ships and installing engines and the rest.  
Deva still thought bitterly about the man who had left Avon in a cell to die of his wound or to be executed. The man he thought was the best man he’d ever met, until then.  
He thought about pain and betrayal. He thought about how Blake had betrayed HIM and the rebellion, by failing to admit to his mistakes. By not even trying to give Avon a fair trial.  
Deva looked at the crew. Avon’s crew. Well now, his crew, he guessed.  
Tarrant was young, but he seemed to be brave. The others mentioned how Tarrant sacrificed himself so they could get off Scorpio. Tarrant seemed to be a bit mouthy and brattish, but he seemed to also listen to Avon and respect him.   
Dayna was… just a child. But as Avon and Tarrant were getting the ship up she’d told him how Avon had found her on Sarran and how he’d taken her on the Liberator after her father was killed.  
None of them spoke about Vila. 

Deva thought that weird because Vila and Blake acted as if Vila was this beloved guy that everybody loved and Avon was the guy they all feared and hated and that didn’t seem like it.  
Deva realised that he didn’t get Avon, but maybe you didn’t need to get a person to judge him by his actions.  
They were now clearing off Gauda Prime and Avon was slumped in a chair. It was Deva who noted that Avon was passed out.  
Deva was scared, but Dayna and Soolin checked Avon and said he wasn’t bleeding, just probably very exhausted. Tarrant said they needed to get as far from Gauda Prime as possible so they headed out of the system.  
Passing the blockade from this direction was easy- they seemed to be busy shooting at various small ships coming in so the old Wanderer just sneaked past in the shadow of the planet.

They thought they’d gotten away until the comm came in.  
There was a man none of them knew, and he demanded to talk to Avon. Soolin refused to wake him up.  
The man insisted and identified himself as Del Grant. Orac confirmed that Del Grant and Avon had met before, and that Del Grant probably didn’t work for the federation.  
Reluctantly they woke Avon up, and Avon agreed to talk to Del Grant.  
They talked. Deva wasn’t present, but from what he had heard, Blake had offered this Del Grant, who was a mercenary, a big fee to blow Avon’s ship up.  
Deva fell down on his butt and put his head in his hands. He’d have cried if he could, but he couldn’t. Blake… Blake was not what he thought.  
Deva started to cry. Dayna came to him, and put her arm around his shoulders, and he cried on her shoulder.  
Avon came in from the Wanderer’s comm room and said.  
“Tarrant, plot a course back down to the planet.”  
“What? Avon, that’s a really stupid idea” jumped Dayna. Tarrant’s face agreed  
Avon looked at them and said  
“I’d like nothing more to get out of here, but it seems I have some unpaid debts. Since we don’t have a teleport, we need to go down”

“Why? “ Deva asked.” You really trust this Del Grant that much?”  
Avon shrugged  
“I pay my debts, Deva. All of them”  
Nobody in the crew commented. Dayna tried to, but Soolin gave him a look, and she quieted.  
Tarrant plotted the course. Deva went to him and asked him “are you sure this is a good idea?”  
Tarrant smiled blithely  
“you really didn’t think Avon would leave without talking to Blake did you?”  
Deva was confused  
“Is he going to try and kill Blake again?”  
Tarrant shrugged  
“at least this time he’d deserve it”  
Deva left without a word.  
Del Grant’s ship put down near Blake’s base. He was expected.  
But there were no guards, and the whole place looked strange.  
He was escorted into Blake’s office. He had three crew with him, who wore helmets and space suits and guns. Blake seemed to trust him enough to allow this.  
Blake’s base was a mess- there seemed to be no organization and a bit too much whispering ‘round the corners. Not enough people, not well guarded.

Blake looked broken. He was tired, but there was more. His shoulders were sloped and he looked like he was struggling to keep his head up. One of his old crew was with him. Del vaguely remembered this was the guy who opened the safe- was his name Vila? 

Del sat down across the table from Blake.   
“did you do it?” asked Blake with a hollow voice.  
Del didn’t answer.  
“Wouldn’t you have rather had him taken prisoner?”  
This time, Vila answered  
“No, we took him in before, and he escaped and killed 5 people. And he tried to kill Blake. And before that, he tried to kick me out an airlock”

Del looked at them dubiously “why?”  
Vila answered again  
” because he hated Blake’s guts and wanted to be the head of the rebellion. He’d heard Blake had a base and people, and decided to come here, kill Blake and take over. Avon always wanted what Blake had, like the Liberator. And then he took the Liberator and destroyed it, killed Cally and tried to kill me too”

One of Del’s guards lifted his weapon and shot Vila. Vila splayed on the table, blood gushing out of him.  
The guard took his helm off, and of course it was Avon.  
Blake prepared to die, only Avon didn’t even look at him. He put his gun down, and then looked at Blake without a word.  
And turned his back on him and headed out. The other two guards followed him.  
Del’s voice sounded strange  
“Vila was a Federation plant, Blake. He’d been running you since you left Earth. Orac found his tracks, looks like he’s kept Servalan informed of everything you and Avon did from day one. From the day you left Earth. ”

Blake fell heavily to his chair. Del was looking at him with something that could have been pity.  
Then he turned to leave. Before he got to the door, Blake’s voice followed him  
“why didn’t he kill me, Del? Now that he had a second chance?”  
Del tilted his head to one shoulder and looked at Blake with irony  
“Maybe he doesn’t believe idiocy should be punishable by death”  
Blake lifted his head and looked at him  
“Do you?”  
Del laughed  
“Oh stop the pity party, Blake. You coming or not?”  
“Where?”  
“well, I’d take you with me, but seems Avon’s willing to give you another chance.”  
“Why?”  
Del was getting pretty fed up  
“Because that’s what you do when you care for people, you idiot. Next time, pay attention to what Avon does, not what he says!”

Black ran after them. For some reason it seemed all of his people had decided to get out of the way, so he caught up with Del Grant and the rest at the ships’ shed.  
The Wanderer Avon and his crew had taken was there , and Blake just went in.  
Where were his people? Why wasn’t anybody stopping this whole mess?

In the bay of the Wanderer there was just the black girl from the Scorpio and the other one… Soolin?  
Blake found himself the target of both their guns, and he was sure the guns had been taken from his own people. That Avon and this lot had killed.  
Blake looked around, but Avon wasn’t there, so he gathered whatever energy he had left and asked  
“Where’s Avon?”  
The black girl looked at him with disgust “why do you care?”

Blake suddenly felt very ashamed of himself. He looked down and babbled to himself  
“Del said… Del said I should talk to Avon”  
Soolin looked at Blake. She felt sorry for him, he looked just like Avon had looked after he shot Blake, only worse. She really wanted to give him a serious tongue lashing but decided against it.

Dayna however was having none of it  
“haven’t you done enough already” she said bitterly.   
Blake lifted his head and looked at her  
“What… what do you mean? Del Grant sent me to talk to Avon”  
He really didn’t want to talk to Avon, but he realized he had to apologize, or something.  
Dayna spat the words out  
“well, you can’t talk to Avon. Not right now anyway”  
She sounded tired and hurt, Blake wondered if he could just melt into the deck’s floor to hide his shame.  
Soolin took mercy on him.  
“Come on Blake, it’s time for us to go. Let’s go”. Blake followed her. Where was Avon?

They entered the Wanderer’s flight deck, but Avon wasn’t there. Only the tall guy he had caught- Tarrant? Tarrant was there and as he lifted the Wanderer he didn’t even look at Blake, as if Blake was too insignificant to even look at.  
Blake fell hard on a chair. Immediately Dayna was next to him and he felt the gun’s muzzle in his back.  
“Not there. I don’t want you anywhere near the controls”.  
So Blake stood up and Dayna pushed him to another chair, where he sat heavily.  
Soolin disappeared somewhere. Dayna sat down next to him and gave him a very sharp look  
“Try something and I swear I’ll turn you into a sieve, Blake” she said  
Blake just looked at her. She was right to look down on him, he had screwed everything up so bad, and once again Avon had saved him from himself.  
But Avon wasn’t there, the ship was off the planet and these kids were looking at him with disdain.  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
Vila? A federation plant? Blake considered it and it sort of fit. The way Vila had costed them their mutiny on the London… the way Servalan and Travis were always one step ahead of him. What he’d heard about how Servalan kept on defeating all Avon’s plans and schemes… it sort of fit. Nobody ever suspected Vila of anything, and every once in a while he’d shown signs of incredible intelligence under that carefully constructed idiot façade.  
Vila… who had jumped into his arms and bed after the whole shooting incident. What was he thinking? He’d never even been attracted to Vila.  
Was he so starved of companionship he had fallen for Vila of all people?

He thought about how Avon looked when he shot him, and how he should’ve gotten up immediately instead of playing dead. Of Avon standing astride of his fallen body and shooting at the federation troopers who were trying to capture him. Of Avon who’s carried his body out of the base although he was hurt himself.  
Of how , when his people regrouped, he had stood up and let them surround Avon and take him away. Of how they’d hit him, and of the blood dripping on Avon’s boots from a wound he didn’t see.  
How Vila, awakened from the stun shock of the trooper’s gun, had just come to him and started talking and talking and told him how Avon had planned to kill him.  
And he believed it.  
He remembered acutely how Avon had stumbled, how Vila insisted that Blake didn’t owe Avon an explanation. How Vila’d said Avon didn’t deserve to see a doctor because “it would be easier if Avon just died from his wounds”.

he remembered how Deva stood up to him. He hadn’t expected it, and his words had hurt Blake, but Vila took him to his room , and kept talking and Blake felt like everything around him was foggy.  
He remembered the “sleeping pills” Vila had given him.  
Idiot.  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Soolin returned and went to Tarrant, whispering something in his ear. Tarrant let the automatics take over and stood up.  
Blake lifted his head and looked at him. Hoping Tarrant will tell him something, anything

Tarrant came to him and stood in front of him. A slightly surprised look on his face as if something’d changed in the days since Blake had captured him in the wreck of Scorpio.  
Blake spoke  
“Where is Avon? I… I need to talk to him”  
Tarrant studied him like he was some kind of insect.   
Dayna muttered under her breath “as if we’d let you anywhere near him now”.  
Blake suddenly felt his head was spinning. Something was wrong, something was wrong with Avon.  
He sat up and looked around in panic. Avon had looked very thin and pale down on the base. Something had happened to Avon! Maybe someone shot him on his way to the ship! Maybe Avon was dead!

Panicked he grabbed the chest of Tarrant’s tunic and screamed  
“What happened to Avon? “  
Tarrant opened his mouth and closed it, then turned around and went back to his seat.  
Soolin spoke  
“Avon was very badly hurt in the whole mess you caused. He had no medical treatment for days, in the hole you had him thrown in. Deva’s done his best, but Avon’s body could only take so much…”  
Blake screamed. This wasn’t possible.  
“No, I just saw him, he was alive, no, you’re lying”  
Soolin continued.   
“he’s alive, he’s just passed out and very weak. Your man Deva’s looking after him. We’re not sure if he’s going to make it”  
Tarrant’s voice cut in “He might have if he hadn’t decided to come back and save you from your own stupidity again. He was alright earlier”  
Blake screamed  
Soolin’s hand slapped him  
“be quiet”  
“We’re taking him to the nearest neutral planet with decent medical facilities” said Tarrant.” Luckily it’s only a few hours away. He’s got a chance”  
Blake felt like the world had ended. This was once again his fault  
Dayna pushed him down on the chair and he crashed. He looked at her face and her eyes were wet and pained  
“you’re lucky, you know” she said in a small sad voice. “You’re lucky we’re not like you”  
Blake nodded  
“You’re lucky Avon loves you. Otherwise, we’d have shot you and left you to rot down there. Like you did to him”  
Blake quietly wished he was dead.  
Soolin’s voice was a bit louder  
“Don’t worry, we won’t harm you even if Avon doesn’t make it. We aren’t monsters”  
Blake decided he wanted to die there and then.  
The three moved from him. He wasn’t even worth the effort to guard.  
They were flying somewhere, and every second meant they were closer to the place where Avon would get help.  
Blake wished he could pray.  
After a while, someone pushed a cup into his hand. It looked like an adrenaline drink.  
He dropped it on the floor. His hand refused to close.  
He didn’t deserve it. He hadn’t even given Avon that.  
Soolin’s voice came to him from far away  
“Do you need to lay down?”  
Blake mumbled “ no”  
Soolin’s hand touched him “Come on Blake, I’ll take you to a cabin. You’ll be more comfortable in there”  
Blake replied warily “no”  
He muttered to himself “ I don’t deserve it…”  
Soolin sounded almost warm “come on, there’s no need for this”  
She took him to a cabin. It was clean.  
Just with her, Blake gathered his courage  
“is Avon going to be ok?”  
Soolin actually pat him on his shoulder  
“Avon is tough. He just needs rest, His wound is not infected, he’s just very very weak”  
Blake felt like he needed to ask one more question  
“Del said Avon wanted to give me one more chance”  
Soolin nodded  
“He does. Don’t you know Avon loves you?”  
Blake raised his head “what?”  
Soolin started him down “Avon loves you. That’s why he forgave you, that’s why he came back to save you from the trap you let Vila drag you in”  
Blake nodded.  
“I’m sorry”  
Soolin smiled  
“Deva won’t let you near Avon, you know. I think he has a crush on him”  
Blake laughed  
“I wouldn’t let me near Avon either”  
Soolin smiled  
“Blake, he’s going to be OK. But if you hurt Avon ever again, in any way, I’ll shoot you, and my targets don’t live to tell”

 

This was a hospital room. It was clean and there were all sorts of monitors plugged in, and tubes coming in and out of Avon.  
Avon was… kinda white and gaunt, but he was alive and that was enough. He looked asleep.  
Deva was sitting next to the bed on a chair and looked a lot paler and skinnier than when he’d last seen him. Not on the ship. Blake hadn’t been allowed anywhere near Avon on the ship so he hadn’t seen Deva either.  
Deva looked at him with pure contempt in his eyes, then stood up and left the room without a word.  
Blake crashed on the chair. He wanted to touch Avon, but didn’t think that was a very good idea. Avon hated being touched.

Blake sat on the chair with his head in his hands, scared and ashamed. He didn’t want to be here but couldn’t be anywhere else.  
He wished for a second that Avon had shot him. It would’ve been simpler  
He dreaded the moment Avon would open his eyes. He looked at the monitors- the heartbeat was regular. He looked at charts. His own reflection stared at him with angry eyes.   
Avon was gonna be OK.  
He put his head back in his hands.  
Suddenly he felt a touch on his knee. Avon’s hand  
Avon’s hand was on his knee. Avon’s eyes were still closed. Maybe the hand had just slipped from the bed.  
Blake inhaled and did the most courageous thing in his life.  
He took Avon’s hand in his own.  
Avon’s hand was dry and hot. He could feel the fragile bones through the thin skin. He could see the blue veins, the square fingers.  
In the silence peppered by machine noises and beeps, he heard a dry voice  
“You look like a dandelion with that white hair”  
Blake looked up to meet Avon’s dark eyes.  
Avon’s hand grasped at his own, and Avon’s voice sounded again  
“You idiot”


End file.
